Election Operations

As you can imagine, a tremendous amount of work is required to operate the Orange County Registrar of Voters department, the nation’s fifth largest voting jurisdiction. Our Election Operations is at the heart of it all. Election Operations plays a large role in the strategic and tactical decision making that keeps us running and able to produce fair and accurate elections.

With more than 1,000,000 ballots cast, 10,000 poll workers recruited, 1,300 polling places in operation, 11,000 voting booths deployed, 650,000 vote-by-mail ballots printed, mailed and processed, and 1.6 million sample ballots produced and delivered – all of this occurring each countywide election, that is no easy task.

Many factors can disrupt our operations but we have multiple teams in place to ensure the smoothest experience for voters. One example is our exclusive Rapid Deployment Teams (RDT) and our central dispatch operations. We have over 300 individuals throughout the County during each election – each one working to keep polling places open and voters voting. Among these 300 dedicated people are our elite RDT units – paramedic style teams that can be dispatched to fix the most complex problems at polling places. Our central dispatch team monitors their movement throughout the County and can dispatch them using the same technology employed by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to track law enforcement.

This specialized unit is just one example of our vast Election Operations team that keeps our operations running smoothly. Our teams literally work around-the-clock during elections to ensure all voters can cast their ballot and know that it is secured and counted on time.